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I hope it won't make a comeback. I always found it ugly and even though I really tried to like it I couldn't warm up to it at all. I think the sound of it is really masculine. I know that Francis is masculine and spelling it Frances doesn't make it any more feminine to me. It neither looks nor sounds like a girls name to me.

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I first encountered it on the cover of a Frances Hodgson Burnett book, one of my favorite authors, when I was about six years old and I thought it was written by a male author because the name sounded so unfeminine to me. I only realized it was feminine when I met a Frances in junior high who was a real pain in the butt and terrorized younger kids so that didn't help either.

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Trying to be a bit more positive, people here always complain about how boys names go over to the girls, Frances is one I'd gladly hand over to the boys. Not that I find it attractive on a boy, but it does make a better boys name.

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I do find the nickname Fanny kind of cute (it is popular in France) because I can separate it from the slang terms but of course I'd never use it. I strongly dislike Fran but Frannie isn't bad as a nickname. If I had to use a similar name it would definitely be Francesca which I find appealing.